Dennis Quaid's bid to stop paying child support takes new twist: Insiders reveal his shameless attempt to involve Trump and brutal message for kids

'I love Donald Trump!' Dennis Quaid crowed when he joined the president onstage at a rally in February, hours before the outbreak of the Iran War.

Now, just months later, there are whispers that the 72-year-old actor is using his political proclivities as a key reason to stop paying child support.

His twins, Zoe and Thomas, whom he shares with his latest ex-wife Kimberly Buffington, turned 18 last year and are currently graduating high school.

It emerged this week that Quaid is filing legal documents to ensure his monthly payments will end once both teenagers are awarded their diplomas.

A source has now exclusively shed light on his thinking to the Daily Mail, explaining that the Great Balls of Fire! actor feels 'there comes a point where everyone has to stand on their own two feet.'

The insider added that Quaid's 'future earning potential' in Hollywood has been eroded by his public enthusiasm for Trump, intensifying his conviction that 'it's time to move on from making these payments.'

Buffington, a real estate agent, married Quaid in 2004, becoming his third wife after his previous marriages to PJ Soles and Meg Ryan. 

The couple welcomed Zoe and Thomas via surrogate in 2007 and, after multiple splits and reconciliations, divorced in 2018.

Quaid pays a base rate of $13,750 in monthly child support, with markups possible in the event his earnings rise above a particular level, per TMZ.

With Zoe having graduated high school on May 23 and Thomas scheduled to do so on June 3, Quaid is hoping to make certain the cessation of his payments.

'Dennis feels like it's more than fair for the financial support to come to an end now that the kids are grown adults and have graduated,' the source told the Daily Mail.

'He's always understood his responsibility, and he loves his kids and will continue to support them emotionally and be there when needed, but he also believes there comes a point where everyone has to stand on their own two feet.

'From his perspective, the amount of money Kimberly and the kids received through the divorce was substantial, and they even received additional support later on when Dennis' income increased. 

'At this stage, he feels the situation has gone on long enough and that the money he earns moving forward should belong to him.'

Quaid has been married since 2020 to his fourth wife, Laura Savoie, who at the age of 33 is nearly four decades his junior and a year younger than his son, Jack Quaid, whom he had with his second wife, Meg Ryan.

According to the source, Quaid now 'believes Kimberly and the kids are more than capable of living comfortably with what they've already been given.'

The insider also pointed to his endorsement of Trump in the 2024 election, the same year he starred as Ronald Reagan in a complimentary biopic.

Quaid, the source said, is 'fully aware that his support for Donald Trump has already impacted – and could continue to impact – the kinds of film and TV opportunities that come his way. He understands there may be roles he's no longer considered for because of his political views, and that could affect his future earning potential.

'Combined with the fact that he's getting older, it has only strengthened his belief that it's time to move on from making these payments. From his perspective, he doesn't want to continue feeling like an ATM, especially at a point in life where work opportunities could eventually start slowing down.'

Meanwhile, the source continued, with regard to 'how Kimberly feels about Dennis's request, she's really just letting the legal process play out and trusting whatever the courts decide. But of course, she's hoping the payments continue.'

At the moment, Quaid can still boast of a busy work schedule, with three film releases this year alone including the Netflix action thriller War Machine, led by Alan Ritchson.

He also has a number of upcoming projects in various stages of completion, such as the film The Florist featuring French screen legend Jean Reno and an AMC series called Thunder Road starring Quaid as a NASCAR legend. 

Quaid enjoyed his first flush of celebrity in 1979 when he appeared in Breaking Away, a coming-of-age film about recent high school graduates. 

As he moved into the 1980s, he rose to further prominence through The Right Stuff, The Big Easy and Great Balls of Fire!

However, the drug-fueled whirl of the era's showbiz milieu was evidently irresistible to Quaid, who plunged into a galloping cocaine addiction. 

Explaining that drugs were included on 'some movie budgets,' he once told Megyn Kelly: 'You know, I was doing cocaine pretty much on a daily basis during the '80s.'

'I spent many, many nights screaming at God to take this away from me,' he told the interviewer during her stint on NBC's Today show. 'I'll never do it again, because I've only got an hour before I've gotta be at work.'

In the end, he told People he had a 'white light' moment in which he 'saw myself either dead or in jail or losing everything I had,' prompting him to get sober in 1990. 

Searching for a way to 'fill the hole' left by drugs, he explored a variety of religious texts including the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita before returning to the Christian faith of his upbringing and 'developing a personal relationship' with God.

A couple of years ago, when his twins were 16, Quaid revealed the advice he gave his children before they struck out into the working world.

His firstborn son, Jack, had already followed his footsteps into acting and achieved success in his own right as one of the stars of Amazon show The Boys. 

'I tell my kids to find something you love to do, then figure out a way to get paid for it,' Quaid told Fox News. 'I don't push them either way. They are who they are.'